A documentary to distract India’s focus from development

The forces averse to India's rise might be seeking, through this documentary, to distract the nation's focus away from development; and the BBC seems to have aligned with such Fascist forces.

One of the reasons the system of democracy has not really matured enough to foster all-inclusive equality, liberty and justice in any part of the contemporary world so far is that the media, the precious 'Fourth Estate' in any democratic society, have remained, by and large, partisan to the detriment of the larger humanity. Regrettably, even the leading Western media have not been fair in this regard. The recent British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) documentary, "India: The Modi Question," is a case in point.

The documentary purportedly reveals that the UK government conducted an investigation into the 2002 Gujarat riots. The probe found that Narendra Modi, then Chief Minister of the State and currently our Prime Minister, was mainly responsible for the incident.

In a media interview, then British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has sought to explain the British investigation as an innocuous one, saying, "In Britain, including my constituency, there were hundreds of thousands of people from the Indian State of Gujarat, mostly Muslims. There was great concern and there were also people I knew whose families were directly affected by this inter-communal riot and they reported it to us. (This was) one of the reasons why the then High Commissioner ordered this investigation."

Straw added, "The constituency I represent, in the... textile area of Lancashire - 50 years ago probably around 5% of the population was non-White and now it's 40% and rising. We are forever linked to India." Straw also said, "I have spoken to the Vajpayee government, specifically my counterpart there, the Foreign Minister (Jaswant Singh)... throughout 2002, I was in very good contact and in cooperation with the Vajpayee government."

One, however, finds the Straw explanation too simplistic. A careful look at the BBC's pattern of functioning reveals that it has had little to do with a concern for the future of democracy and development in India. The essentials of democracy - such as the prevalence of the culture of debate and the rule of reason - have been deep-rooted in India since ancient times. Prior to British rule, India accounted for about 27 percent of the world GDP. The BBC has not cared to highlight how British rule came to destroy all this in India. Nor has it cared enough to investigate several other incidents of communal violence, including the 1984 Sikh carnage, in post-colonial India.

It is strange that the BBC took more than 20 years to reveal that the UK government had conducted such an investigation. There is absolutely no point for the BBC to do it now. Our judiciary has already heard the 2002 riot cases at almost all levels. The Supreme Court of India constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the case. It has given Modi a clean chit in the matter.

Any insinuation made in the documentary that Modi has been anti-Muslim is devoid of substance. Ideologically, Modi is an ardent follower of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The latter considers indigenous Muslims as part of India. In the 2014 and 2019 national elections and, before that, in the 2002, 2007 and 2012 Gujarat State elections, Modi secured resounding mandates from the people of the country. This would not have been possible unless people across diverse social groups had voted for him and his party.

Pertinently, Prime Minister Modi has been all for the development of the Muslim community in the country. He says, "Development is only possible when Muslim youth hold the Quran in one hand and a computer in the other."

Observers say the documentary is aimed at defaming Modi in the eyes of the Indian public and destabilising the country. In recent years, India's stature has risen in the comity of nations. During the Covid crisis, India invented its own vaccines and went about inoculating more than a billion of its population. India also offered its vaccines either free or at heavily discounted rates to other poor nations.

During the ongoing Ukrainian crisis, India has not budged an inch to the muscle-flexing by the Western nations. India has been able to do business with Russia. At the same time, it has enjoyed the confidence of Ukraine. India was able to evacuate its stranded students from the war-affected zones.

Moreover, India has emerged as the fifth largest economy in the world. In another few years, it is likely to reach the envious position of the third largest economy in the world - behind only the United States and China.

The forces averse to India's rise might be seeking, through this documentary, to distract the nation's focus away from development; and the BBC seems to have aligned with such Fascist forces.

Pertinently, the BBC has glossed over the linkage the Vatican had had with the Fascists in the past. It is well known that Pope Pius XI cooperated closely with Benito Mussolini. In his Parliament in 1921, Mussolini said one of the great bases of the greatness of Italy is the fact that it's the world headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, and Italy needed to treasure that identity. In 1935, Mussolini launched an invasion of Ethiopia. Italian planes bombed Ethiopian villages and dropped chemical weapons. The Church supported the Fascist regime.

Mussolini was a role model for German dictator Adolf Hitler. The latter kept a bust of Mussolini in his office in the 1920s. In an interview, historian David Kertzer says, "The Popes had never been fond of parliamentary democracy... in the 1920s and 1930s, the Church and the Pope still held to a quite medieval vision that believed there should not be freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion."

The observers suggest that the Modi government would do well by not paying much attention to the BBC documentary. Instead, it should maintain its focus on the agenda of all-inclusive democracy and development across the country. On its part, the UK government ought to be careful about the elements behind this documentary as it has surfaced at a time the UK has a Prime Minister with quintessential Hindu roots and the country's ongoing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks with India are at an advanced stage.

(Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, New York)

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of OneIndia and OneIndia does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.